So many people are amazingly kind and help out in our work at Kindness Activist. I get often get texts and messages asking if we know of anyone who needs a specific item, or if the pantry could use x, y, or z. The outpouring of support is very heartwarming and gives me energy to keep going.
And every once in a while,
a very specific offer of support comes in, maybe one I didn’t even know I needed,
that gives me such joy.
An offer like that came in
yesterday.
A lovely neighbor named
Sally sent me this message: “Hi there. The kids are up for a Buy Nothing blitz
tomorrow to find items for Project Warmth. If you post another “in search of”
ask in the Facebook group, I can take the kids out tomorrow to pick items up
and save in my shed for you until the 20th.”
This.
THIS is the kind of specificity
that you don’t know you need until it is offered.
You see, we host a big annual
event called Project Warmth. We collect
good condition, clean winter clothing items from the community and put out a few
of the things at a time in front of our home on a very busy corner near
Washington DC.
It is amazing how many
people need hats and scarves and sweaters and coats and boots… We give away a lot of items each year –
last year we handed out over 100 coats (we didn’t count the other items)!! We hang them out – maybe one sweatshirt, a
coat, a hat, some new socks, a pair of mittens…
Then, as an item finds a new home, we replace it. We do this several times a day, every day,
for a couple of winter months each year.
It may sound easy, but it
is a lot of work. I need to put out asks
for donations. I often have to go pick
them up. Sometimes they are dropped off
on our front porch (once so many were dropped off right in front of the door
that I could not open it to get outside and had to go out the back door and
walk around).
Then I have to SORT them. I have to make sure each glove/mitten has a mate. Have to make sure they are CLEAN – we ask donors to only donate clean items but sometimes things come in that need to be laundered, so that means running loads of laundry. I need to test zippers and check for holes and the like. Anything that doesn’t pass the “good condition” test needs to get donated somewhere else – yet another step to be done.
And we need to keep an eye
on the project. If the sweater gets
taken, we need to bring out a new one. If
it rains, we need to bring everything in before it gets too wet. And we need to STORE the things at our home
all winter so they are accessible to grab and give.
It is a lot of work.
But this offer from a
neighbor that came from out of the blue – this took a big load off of me. And it not only helped me, it was great
for people who had things to donate and were holding onto them until the
January 20, 2025 start date. I started
asking for things a couple of weeks ago but requested they not be brought to
our home until we began for the season, so some families were just waiting with
bags of things until it was time.
And, because of Sally and
her kids, for 15 households, today was time!!
Yup – between my ask at
around 9:00 PM Saturday night and 7:30 AM Sunday morning, 15 people had
commented that they would love to take Sally and the kids up on their offer to
come by and pick up donations. That’s a
lot of stops!!
S. (age 10) helped
his mom plan out the route by plugging addresses into GPS. I talked to him via video when they were all
done collecting and he said that the work was a bit more than he expected 😊. He explained that he had carried all of the
bags of donations (with ice and snow on the ground, mind you!) from the households to the vehicle and that the bags were heavy. The GPS told them that the 2-hour drive
of 15 stops took them on a route of just under 5 miles.
Most of the donors left the bags of items out for pick up, but S. said that a couple of the households answered the door and talked with them. He claimed the whole thing was his sister H’s idea (though I suspect it may have been influenced by mom). While he hauled the heavy bags, H. documented everything by taking photos on an iPad. “She is obsessed with taking pictures,” the big brother grinned. “She probably took about 100,000 pictures.” That’s my kind of girl! I love photos! Sadly, the pics she shot are in a fancy black and white coloring app and can't be shared outside the app, so we will have to make due with photos her mom took :) .
You may remember these kids from a piece I wrote last year.
In that act of kindness, they handed out bottled water to neighbors when
a boil alert came down from the county. These
two are KIND KIDS.
And, like so many times we
are kind in life, it turns out that the act not only helped the people whose
donations were collected, it not only helped me by taking that task off
my plate, and it not only helped the people who will benefit from getting the
warm clothing.
It also helped the people
doing the kind act.
You see, this family has
close ties to California. They have
friends who have been impacted from the fires.
“Feeling pretty paralyzed by all the people we know in California who
have lost homes this week, with little we can do from here but donate cash,”
Sally told me. “So, it was nice to be
able to do something with our morning that we know will directly help keep
people here safe and warm.”
THIS. So much this.
So often when we go out of our way to do kind things, an unexpected
result is that we end up feeling better, happier.
THANK you Sally and kids. Thank you for giving of your
time and your energy and your gas (and your wicked photography skills) to pick
up all of those items and store them in your shed.
THANK you, neighbors who
donated today. Your winter gear will
help make someone much warmer.
And THANK YOU, universe,
for putting people in my life who are supportive, kind, and downright
amazing.
If you would like to donate
items to Project Warmth, we will officially begin collecting on January 20,
2025. All donations must be clean and in
good condition. The following items (in
all sizes) are needed:
-
Coats
-
Sweaters
-
Hats
-
Mittens/gloves
-
Boots
-
Snow pants/bibs
-
Scarves
-
Sweatshirts
-
New socks
Donations can be delivered
to our home in South Arlington starting January 20th. If you would like to participate and need the
address, please email us at: KindnessActivist@gmail.com
